Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty ImagesLast year, Tom Petty announced that he was putting together an album featuring unreleased tracks originally intended for his 1995 solo effort Wildflowers, and now he reveals that he’d like to line up a 2017 tour that would focus on the record and the extra tunes.
“I want to take The Heartbreakers and whoever else I need to reproduce every sound in a big way,” he explains to Rolling Stone. “That album was really about sound in a big way. I would like to go out there and perform the entire album as it was originally conceived with all of the songs.”
Petty’s initial plan was to release Wildflowers as a double album, but he eventually issued it as a single-disc, 15-track set that included such tunes as “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and “You Wreck Me.” As for the new release featuring the unissued songs, Tom tells the magazine that he isn’t quite sure what form it will take.
“At one point the label really just wanted to put it out as a standalone album,” he notes. “And then there’s the point of view where they want to put both records together. There’s also the point of view that wants the box set with the demos and all that.”
Petty previously had told Rolling Stone that he didn’t like the idea of playing full albums live but he says he’s rethought his position, at least with regard to presenting the expanded Wildflowers.
“I’ve changed my mind because nobody has ever done something like this where you’re previewing the second part of a never-released album,” he maintains. “How often does that happen? It’s old and new at the same time.”
Petty currently is touring with his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch through a June 30 show in San Diego.
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